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On the Blog

What it would be like to build, one glance at a time, a beloved community? Inspired the defaced churches in Cappadocia, Omid Safi appeals to the loving glances that acknowledge the sacred beyond in each one of us.

How we ask each other questions can evoke a deeper sense of self. Words of advice from Parker Palmer and a poem by Denise Levertov on the power of asking with good intention, and hearing each other into being.

A mother contemplates her own addictive need to fix things with her daughter. Using mindfulness as a tool for recovery she answers compulsive behavior with the opportunity to be present in ever-deepening self-awareness, and the ability to witness emotional weather without engaging or reacting to it.

The act of letting go is a popular idea — but it isn't easy. It's a practice requiring time, patience, and a good deal of steadfastness. Words of wisdom on acknowledging an experience and changing our relationship to it.

Zayn Malik's announcement crushed millions of fans' hearts, including that of our columnist Omid Safi. Despite the comforting scenario painted by Stephen Hawking, Omid prefers this one universe, this one place we call home.

Krista Tippett pays homage to Patrick Henry, a mentor who speaks to her enduring intuition that, in losing rote affiliation, religiosity and Christianity may have a chance to recover their deepest, wildest heart for the sake of the world.

The word "depression" is used to describe a personal condition as well as large-scale economic collapse. Parker Palmer shares a story of personal story of his last encounter with depression and two interviews that talking about depression and economic crisis.

Becoming a mother can be a startling experience — a belonging to a communion of motherhood and the stark reality that one's identity will never be the same again. For this upcoming Mother's Day, Courtney Martin contemplates the fragility, fierceness, and myopia of motherhood and the ineffable beauty of being a mother.

Sometimes we buzz through our social media streams and forget to pause, connect, and read more deeply. The marvelous writer Terry Tempest Williams teaches us to do just that — all through the story of her dog.

"Ritual does for behavior what poetry does for words." When the hope of youthful enthusiasm turns grim and gray and the spiritual challenge of uncertainty beckons, a rabbi finds hope in ritual as poetry in action, recognizing the spirituality in the routine, recapturing the sacred in the mundane, and rediscovering beauty in the ordinary.

To bear witness means to be present. Beyond the truncated arc of our broken news cycles and the busyness of our lives, Courtney Martin suggests that we root ourselves in a deeper commitment in our own humanity — and of others — and continue to stand up against injustice.

We are inextricably entwined with each other. Omid Safi sees the pain and suffering of two tragedies — in Nepal and in Baltimore — and appeals to all of us to embody the ethics of a natural tragedy, reaching out in compassion, when we're faced with man-made destruction and systemic corruption.

In silence, there is a depth of communion that trumps what we can achieve with words. In laughter, there is a depth of communion that trumps what we can achieve with solemnity. Parker Palmer on shadow and quiet.